THE SOIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 26 January 1911, Page 2

THE SOIL.

WdOL SELLING.

NEW ZEALAND OR LONDON SALES.

In other parts of New Zealand >then seems to be a good deal of diversity c. opinion regarding the best methods t. adopt in the-disposal of wool. The "New Zealand Times," in dealing with an a: tide which favoured the sending c. wood direct to the English markets says

THE "BEAU" BOGEY;

"It would be well if the writer of th. article had come to Wellington and investigated the conditions under which a local wool sale is conducted before allowing his imagination to get the bettei of him. The competition for wool in a New Zea.land sale-room is very much more keen than in London, for here the Home and" foreign manufacturer are not only as well represented as they are in I London (the fast dying Mecca of the wool buyer), but there are the local woollen mills competing for the staple as well as local scourers and speculators. On the face of it, it is puerile to imagine that, all these varying factors in wool exchange were in league to lower values. A fact which absolutely. disproves the contention that buyers arranged the small decline in certain wools which took place at the last sales is the fall which took place at the Melbourne and Brisbane sales about the same time. At Melbourne a decline took place of £d to Id a pound> and at Brisbane the fall was from 5 to 7| per cent. Now we have confirmation of the easier tone ■ of the market by a heavier decline at the London sales: On the eve of the recent local sales the writer saw private cables received from Continental manufacturers restricting orders and reducing limits . It is not at all improbable that growers who realised at the last local sales will have done better than those who have estimated the value of their wool at a fictitious level, and refusing the true price of it on local markets have shipped it to London. LEGITIMATE RESERVES.

If there is one fiction more common than another in the wool-growing world it is that the farmer can estimate the market value of< his tilnp. Apart from the fact that it requires very expert knowledge to value wool —to calculate to a nicety the manufacturing value of the particular grade of quality and I estimate the weight of scoured wool which will remain when the grease and extraneous matter has Ibeen extracted in the scouring and other processesthere is the common heresy of too (many erowers that_ because one man has.realised a certain price for, say, Rjaminey Wo6l, they should receive the same for their Romney clip. Poorer country, in-ferior-bred sheep, more unfavourable season, heavier stocking-, indifferent skirting and marketing methods and generally less careful fmanag'emenlt are factors which are not taken into consideration. The vast difference in the wool of sheep of the leading stud breeders of the country. as exhibited in the show-yard pens . should be conclusive enough demonstration of the" impossibility'of anyone but those making a special study of the business arriving <at the true relative value of wools presented for sale* It is to be regretted the ifanmer should be encouraged to his belief that he knows as much about the value of his clip as his/broker, or rather his broker's expert, by men who have 'no acquaintance 'with the position, 'through the country press. THE LONIDON SALES.

The fallacy of the London dale-room •being the best place for the New Zealand grower to market his wool is •dying hard, but, whatever advocates of (Home marketing may say to the contrary, selling wool a t the seat of pnoducifcion is the principle of the future. 'Nothing can stay its development. It ■is better for the grower arid better for the tmainaifacturer: It is to the advanjtage of the former because he exchanges his /product • for gold without delay and thus 1 knows just where he stands,. •instead of being a .borrower of money in •order to. engage in a speculation which •as of ten 'as not results in loss and disappointment. .It. is an advantage to line- manufacturer in that he can obtain •his supplies at the earliest available moment (being thius iri a good position •to make forward contracts'), he sees the ■wool to the .beet advantage, arid he can •have it shipped direct from the port •neanest where it is grown, to his own port. AUSTRALIA'S LESSON. """~ Australian wool growers are quite •satisfied as to the .local wool sale being the better proposition. Not many yeans ago the great bulk of Australian wool •was sold in .London, but the position has been quite reversed. During the the last half of 1910 London sold 2b8.000 bailee (including Australian, New eZaland. South American, South African, etc.) as against 1,000,000 bales sold in Australia. Take the sixth sale, of the London series (Noveriiber-December), in 1901 the • available quantity was 233,000 ■bales, wjhile this season, when & epecially qarly shearing in Australia was all in. London r s favour,' the quantity available .was only 117,000. One of the.bestinformed winters in-Australia on this subject recently remarked: -'Despite all the frantic efforts of those who,seek at all hazards to up the failing cause of wool selling in' London it is abundantly clear that each year will bring nearer the day when Australian •first-hand wools are unknown at the London sales."

KEMARKABLE LONDON METHODS ' While the local wool sales are conducted on the most approved methods, competition ..being absolutely open to the world, the local scourer having; just the same chance' to secure any line in a

catalogue as the strongest foreign operator, the methods in vogue in London sale-rooms are antiquated, unfair and distinctly against the best interests of the New Zealand grower. There are old-established rules, formulated by and in the 1 interests of the trade, which are apparently just as hopeless of reform as the unjust draft demand. One rule, for instance—the discovery of which has amazed many a New Zealand broker who , has investigated the Home system—is thatf the . last, buyer can take any succeeding line providing another buyer does not exceed his bid by a buyer can claim the wool in page aftea. - page of a catalogue. (which is frequently the case), and this practically att his own price. This means that the front rank buyers have the sale to themselves, in fact, it is so hopeless for the back benchers to bid that thes&onen have to arrange with the men in the front to bid for them. Obviously this means that a few men run the sale and after it is over cut up the wool among the majority of the buyers, very much the same as John Ghinam,an does in the local fruit marts. One buys the whole line at his own price, and then divides it among his fellow celestials. Then we are told by the- country scribe that in London New Zealand wool is competed for by the world's buyers. As to competition, there are more genuine operators bidding in a, Wellington salesroom at any time than there are at the biggest sale in London. There is another delightful little rule enacted fay the London wool buyer. This is that when the price reaches 8d only J?d bids are accepted ! Consequently if the _ wool is worth B£d the grower loses his per .pound. . Such rules would not be tolerated in this country. It says something for the conservatism of British methods that, notwithstanding the business of wool selling is rightly passing out of the hands of the London merchant, he is powerless to improve his system in order to check the debacle facing him. Local selling has come to stay, and whatever the friends of the London broker may say to the contrary the writing is" on the wall.